Karma is simply the universal principle of cause and effect. It’s the energy that you put out into the universe, through the actions you take and the words you speak to other people, that eventually finds its way back to you through other people, circumstances, or events (Parts 11 and 12will show us exactly what this energy is). Just as the law of attraction states that the subconscious mind’s power can influence the energy of matter, and form it in such a way as to manifest a person’s thoughts or desires, there are also other ways that a person’s actions or words can put out energy that comes back to them (whether good or bad). This is essentially what Karma Is. For example, harming someone physically or mentally (and not out of self-defense either) will cause negative thoughts and feelings in that person, or negative energy to manifest between you and the victim. This negative energy always finds its way back to the source of its manifestation, which is the person who caused the pain to happen. This is because you own the “original copy” of whatever energy you put out into the universe, so the final output of this action naturally finds it’s way back to the originator. It could come back in the form of a law suit from the affected person, a restraining order, an assault charge (if it was physical), a guilty conscience that creates uneasiness in you, or simply return to you from someone else stronger, meaner, and smarter than you. These of course sound like the possible regular consequences for doing someone wrong, and they are, but we must understand that karma is just as regular and real as the air we breathe. Just as for every action there’s a reaction; for everything we say or do, there’s an energy being projected into the world that will always return to us. There’s instant karma, karma that might not affect a person for years, and even karmic retribution that might not happen to them in this lifetime.

Essentially, you’re building your own good karma when you push yourself towards the realization of your dreams and desires, which goes hand in hand with shaping your destiny (which is your path to fulfilling your dreams, discovered through finding the source of any inspirational moments you’ve felt in your life). It all ties in together, once you see that good karma is made when you’re making actual progress towards your goals, and bad karma naturally develops when you take no action and leave your talents or capabilities for achievement unfulfilled. Your own unhappiness and uneasiness about living a life that you don’t want to live is pretty bad karma, although through hurting others, you develop the kind of bad karma that you hear about in fantasy novels or metaphysical texts. It’s common for many “good people” to suffer from negative karma, even if they haven’t done anything bad enough to warrant such bad energy in their current lifetime. This is due to past life karma that their body doesn’t remember in this lifetime. Your soul however, does. Any strong feelings you have toward another person for no logical reason, any knowledge that you have of something you’ve never learned, any preoccupations or strong childhood interests with a certain subject, or feelings of guilt/sadness/fear that are triggered by certain words or actions without any previous traumatizing experiences, are all indicators of a past life pain or characteristic being carried over into your current life.

You can find out where you are on the karmic scale (more good or bad) by the circumstances that surround your life. If you’re surrounded by circumstances that are the complete opposite of your ambitions, who you are as a person, or the goals that you want to accomplish in life, then more than likely you’re suffering from a type of negative karma. Or if everyone that you meet has virtually nothing in common with you, and you have an extremely hard time finding the necessary resources, people, motivation, and circumstances for your happiness; this is also another symptom of bad karma. In order to begin neutralizing this negative energy, you need to learn from any of your past mistakes, and apply that knowledge to your current life or situation. Learning from past life mistakes is a little different, because you really don’t know who you were, or what you did in this other life. In order to begin your journey to slowly remembering the key points of your past life, please refer to these articles and video: http://www.wikihow.com/Remember-Your-Past-Lives | http://www.netplaces.com/self-hypnosis/family-and-relationship-issues/past-life-regression.htm | http://www.hypnosis-self-help.com/finding-your-past-lives.html. The video just tells you the benefits of past life regression, while the articles tell you how to meditate to achieve the regression. It takes practice; just as fulfilling your personal destiny takes effort. It also may seem a little weird, but keeping an open mind is crucial to making the most out of any opportunities for self-reflection and improvement that we can find.

Secondly, achieving peace through the forgiveness of any negative or annoying person or situation in your life will also help to neutralize it. A third major key is to always do good for others (this includes tough love as well). The more good you do, the more positive feelings you cause inside of yourself and others, which causes positive energy to be released into the world and come back to you.

So what should you do if you encounter overwhelming negative feelings towards people, places, or things for apparently no reason? What does that tell you about your karma, and how does that tie in to fulfilling your destiny? Can thoughts also negatively or positively influence the karma that affects our lives?